TEHRAN, June 18 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN body for assessing the science related to climate change, presents its findings at a regional outreach event in Tehran on 18 June 2018.
It also presents its work programme for the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) cycle at the event, which is hosted by the Islamic Republic of Iran Meteorological Organization.
IPCC Bureau members and authors participate in workshops attended by policymakers, practitioners, city administration officials, scientists, representatives from civil society and business, the general public and media representatives from Iran, as well as participants from Azerbaijan and Iraq.
The event is taking place shortly after the selection of authors by the IPCC for its next comprehensive assessment – the AR6 — and before the launch of the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (SR15) due in October 2018. Currently two other Special Reports – on Climate Change and Land (SRCCL) and on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC) are open for review comments
“During this cycle we aim to cover the regional aspects in a more comprehensive manner and I hope that this event will motivate the research community to publish literature that can feed into AR6,” said Youba Sokona, Vice-Chair of the IPCC.
Scientists will present the latest IPCC report, the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), completed in 2014, which was a crucial input to the Paris Climate Change Agreement reached in December 2015. AR5 found the world has the means to limit global warming and build a more prosperous and sustainable future, but pathways to limit warming to 2ºC relative to pre-industrial levels would require substantial emissions reductions over the next few decades.
“Iran faces multiple challenges related to climate change, including droughts, heat waves, water shortage and impacts on food production,” said Edvin Aldrian, Vice-Chair of Working Group I of the IPCC. “However, adaptation and mitigation strategies exist for reducing these risks and creating opportunities for a sustainable future,” he added.
As part of the outreach event there are several workshops tailored to the various audiences. Some of them will be streamed live. A media workshop followed by a press conference takes place from 8.00 a.m. to 9.45 a.m. local time on 18 June at IRIMO headquarters in Tehran. These will be followed by an opening session with the participation of H.E. Isa Kalantari, Vice-President of Iran and Head of Department of Environment; H.E. Abbas Akhoundi, Minister of Roads and Urban Development; Mr Davood Parhizkar, National IPCC Focal Point and President of IRIMO, and Mr Youba Sokona, Vice-Chair of the IPCC.
“Weather and climate conditions are not only threatening Central Iran with drought and desertification, but also putting the whole civilization of Iran and western Asia at risk,” said Mr Akhoundi.
Vice-President Kalantari added: “In spite of the complicated and difficult environmental situation of Iran – including reductions in precipitation, increases in temperature, and some lagoons drying out – the government is spending significant amounts on maintaining and upgrading the environmental situation of the country.”
Mr Parhizkar added: “Sustainable development can only be defined in the framework of climate capacity. In other words, extra development neglecting the climate capacity of an area will surely lead to instability and also waste resources, and cause many problems. So development programmes should be reviewed in the light of the changes that are occurring in the climate.”
For more information, contact:
Mina Jabbari
IRIMO, Director, Legal and International Affairs Department
Office Phone: +982166070038 ; Mobile:+989123842060
E-Mail: mina747@gmail.com
Nina Peeva
IPCC Information and Communications Specialist
E-Mail: ipcc-media@wmo.int
Office phone: +41 22 730 8142
Webpage of the event: http://bit.ly/outreach_iran
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Notes for editors
What is the IPCC?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the UN body for assessing the science related to climate change. It was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide political leaders with periodic scientific assessments concerning climate change, its implications and risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation strategies. It has 195 member states.
The IPCC has three working groups: Working Group I, dealing with the physical science basis of climate change; Working Group II, dealing with impacts, adaptation and vulnerability; and Working Group III, dealing with the mitigation of climate change. It also has a Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories that develops methodologies for measuring emissions and removals.
Comprehensive scientific assessment reports are published every 6 to 7 years; the latest, the Fifth Assessment Report, was completed in 2014. The next comprehensive assessment is due to be completed in 2022. The IPCC also publishes special reports on more specific issues between assessment reports.
At its 41st Session in February 2015, the IPCC decided to produce a Sixth Assessment Report (AR6). At its 42nd Session in October 2015 it elected a new Bureau that would oversee the work on this report and Special Reports to be produced in the assessment cycle. At its 43rd Session in April 2016, it decided to produce three Special Reports, a Methodology Report and AR6.
The first of these special reports, to be finalized in September 2018, is Global Warming of 1.5ºC, an IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty.
The Methodology Report, entitled 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, will be delivered in May 2019.
In August 2019 the IPCC will finalize Climate Change and Land: an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems.
The Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate will be delivered in September 2019.
The IPCC will approve the outlines of AR6 in September 2017. The three working contributions will be released in 2021 and the Synthesis Report in April 2022.
For more information go to www.ipcc.ch